


The Chesshouse (Or, Afterchess by Mark Walden)

by velavelavela



Category: H.I.V.E. Series - Mark Walden
Genre: Chess, Crack, chess au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27318622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velavelavela/pseuds/velavelavela
Summary: “Natalya, do you know what chess is?”“Yeah..?”“Well, now you’re really gonna know what chess is.”
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	The Chesshouse (Or, Afterchess by Mark Walden)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nebulousviolet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebulousviolet/gifts).



When Natalya got back to her current home-- a bare attic with only a mattress and a table above an abandoned shop-- she began to arrange her chess set on the table. Then, the door was kicked in. Boris barged in with a cohort, sweeping his arm across the board to knock the pieces to the ground.

“You’ve been playing on my turf!” Boris shouted.

He drew a knife, and Natalya grabbed the chess board and held it in front of her torso as he went in for the kill. The knife lodged into the wood, and Natalya tossed it to the other boy, bonking him in the head and knocking him out cold.

“Why I oughta!” Boris said, as if he were in a 1950s family sitcom.

Suddenly there was a gunshot, and he collapsed on top of Natalya, knocking the two of them to the floor.

Natalya rolled the boy’s body off of her, hopping to her feet in a semi-defensive stance. The shot had come from the other side of the attic, where two adults in matching Armani suits were standing, a woman with a slash of a smile and a man with a gun.

“Who are you?” Raven asked sharply, her shoulders drawing in slightly as she eyed the gun in the man’s hand.

“My name is Anastasia, and this is my brother, Pietor. We are international grandmasters.”

Raven was too taken aback to reply before Anastasia began to speak again,

“Natalya, do you know what chess is?”

“Yeah..?”

“Well, now you’re  _ really _ gonna know what chess is.”

* * *

After being driven in a dark car hours into the wilderness with only a bit of light and a just one room temperature bottle of Dasani water, Natalya finally felt the car stop. The doors swung open and she stepped out, holding the empty bottle.

“Do you have recycling?”

“Leave it,” Anastasia replied before heading off towards the gates. Pietor and Natalya followed shortly after, entering through the gates of the stony castle and a security checkpoint where Natalya had to give up the foil from the chocolate coins she had been munching on before coming.

As they came to an overhang of a courtyard where there were dozens of small tables set up and children on either side, moving chess pieces at different paces, in complete silence, Pietor said, “the dorms are over there. Your uniform is on the far end. When you’re done dressing, come down to the courtyard.”

Natalya changed into a white blouse and a sleek, dark pantsuit, complete with a red bowtie. It was a strange look, but she was glad to get out of her old street clothes. She came back out and down into the courtyard. The other children were gathered together under an overhang, and she joined the crowd. At the center was Pietor, who had changed into another Armani suit.

“Alright. Everyone pair up and play a couple rounds of speed chess. Any sign of emotion or mercy to your opponent will be punished. Begin.”

There was a clamoring as everyone went to tables and began to reset the chess pieces. Natalya found a boy alone and joined him at his table. She was shivering a bit, as the uniform didn’t help the cold, and for some reason they were in a courtyard.

“Hi, I’m Natalya.” Natalya said.

The boy quickly shushed her, but with his eyes scanning the area, he replied softly, “I’m Dimitri.”

“What is this place?” Natalya whispered to Dimitri as they were setting up the pieces. Dimitri had taken white, and Natalya was glad, because as well as she played, she didn’t know if she wanted to start right now.

“They call it ‘The Chesshouse,’” Dimitri whispered back and handed Natalya a notepad. She nodded a thank you, and he settled in his chair, “ready?”

Natalya nodded, and Dimitri started her clock. He moved like lightning, taking out his knight immediately, and giving the turn over to Natalya. Furan stopped his overseeing pacing beside Natalya and Dimitri as Natalya was taking a few seconds to think.

“Quicker!” He snapped.

Natalya took her turn impulsively, taking Dimtri’s pawn and falling into an obvious trap. Dimtri took the pawn with his knight, checking.

“Peck, peck, peck, pecking at his defences like a raven at a corpse!”

Natalya squeezed her eyes shut, moving her bishop,

“I’m trying!”

Pietor flicked Natalya in the back of the head, and she lost her concentration completely.

“Don’t talk back to me.”

And he was off.

After countless rounds of speed chess, most of which Natalya had been the loser, with countless other children, Dimitri met up with her on the way to their quarters.

“I’m sorry. If I had let you win, I would’ve gotten my skittles privileges taken away.”

“Skittles?” Natalya wondered if there were vending machines. She was beginning to feel a bit parched, and that lukewarm water had done nothing for her.

“It’s when you play chess for fun.”

“Oh I wholly thought you meant the candy.”

“Nah.”

The walked in silence for a moment or two before another young boy ran up to them, “hey Dimitri you should’ve seen me and--”

He cut off, seeing Natalya.   
  
“Who are you?”

“Natalya,” Natalya said, “you know what? We should escape.”

Dimitri’s and Tolya’s eyes widened.

“Don’t talk like that, not with others around!” Tolya hissed.

“It’s unheard of to escape or want to leave. They’re training us to be grandmasters. I hear there’s this one guy that Anastasia really wants us to beat in chess, but that’s just a rumor. She’s horrifying, makes my blood run cold,” Dimitri said quickly as they arrived in their quarters.

“Yeah I’m not planning on playing chess for anyone but myself. I’m getting outta here,” Natalya shook her head.

That night she dreamed she saw a person-sized chess piece in the snow, birds pecking away its red paint.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to c who is enabling me live on discord vc and also the queen's gambit for making me have chess brainrot


End file.
